Quality Assurance Implementation, Management Practices, and Staff Performance in the Technical Colleges of the Sultanate of Oman: Inputs for a Quality Intervention Program

Abstract

The research endeavored to analyze the impact of quality assurance on management practices and staff performance in the Technical Colleges of the Sultanate of Oman. The use of a quantitative research approach and a correlational research design was deemed necessary in order to address the research objectives. The respondents of the study comprised of the different faculty, staff, and administrators from various technical colleges. It was revealed that there was a very satisfactory level of quality assurance implementation in terms of general standards in higher education (m=3.87) and in the implementation of the standards of good practice in higher education (m=3.97). There was a satisfactory level of quality assurance implementation of the standards of the National Qualifications Framework (m=3.49) and the implementation of the standards in approval and accreditation process (m=3.42). In terms of the management practices profile, an overall very satisfactory level was recorded in the said colleges. This is indicated by the overall mean score level of 3.82. An overall very satisfactory level of staff performance was obtained in the said colleges. This is indicated by the overall mean score level of 3.71. All of the null hypotheses were rejected in favour of the research hypotheses, which means that there was significant relationship between all the quality assurance implementation and staff performance, quality assurance implementation and management practices, and staff performance and management practices. Implications for management and future research are provided.